Monster House

Review: New school tech, old school fun.

Sony's Monster House is the latest feature film to utilize the evolving motion-capture technology, but it succeeds not because of that cutting edge CG but thanks to its old-fashioned storytelling and charm.

The premise of Monster House is simple enough: young DJ (performed by Mitchel Musso) believes the house across the street, owned by the mean old Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), is haunted. It turns out to be even worse than that: the house comes alive, monstrously devouring anything and anyone who ventures too close to it.

DJ and his chubby pal Chowder (Sam Lerner) begin investigating the house, enlisting the aid of Jenny (Spencer Locke), a precocious Girl Scout cookie seller. DJ and Chowder are both attracted to Jenny but their mission to enter (and later destroy) the monster house takes precedence. What the young trio finds inside the living house pales with what happens when the titular home goes on a climatic rampage.

Monster House, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, is reminiscent of the kinds of fantastical family films those two acclaimed directors made back in the 1980s. As directed by first-timer Gil Kenan, Monster House evokes the Spielberg-produced The Goonies, and the neighborhood that DJ lives in is reminiscent of Elliott's or Marty McFly's. There's even a little Stand By Me, with Vern clearly being a predecessor of Chowder.

Like several of those aforementioned 1980s movies, this is ultimately a coming-of-age tale. DJ is drifting into young adulthood while the cape-clad Chowder is still a kid at heart and cannot wait to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. The arrival of Jenny stirs both of the boys but Chowder is just not cool enough yet to win her over. Although the twilight of their childhood is upon them, DJ and Chowder manage to find the happy medium between becoming a teenager and being a boy.

Click for more images from Monster House.

In addition to Buscemi, the rest of the supporting voice cast is uniformly solid, with Jason Lee standing out as Bones, the bully boyfriend of DJ's cynical and domineering babysitter, Zee (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Kathleen Turner has a small but pivotal part, and Kevin James and Nick Cannon play a pair of oafish local cops.

Thanks to a sweet story penned by Dan Harmon & Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler, and an impressive directing debut by Gil Kenan and fine turns by the whole cast, Monster House is arguably the best family film so far this summer. The fact that it showcases motion-capture technology as well as it does is icing on the proverbial cake.